The historic Deccan Queen train between Mumbai and Pune completed 90 years on June 1.

Take the opportunity to revise some of reformative measure in the Indian Railways taken through these years.  Click here to read more .

The Deccan Queen

• The Deccan Queen was introduced between Mumbai and Pune on June 1, 1930 by the Great Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR), the forerunner of the Central Railway.
• This was the first deluxe train introduced to serve the two important cities of the region, and was named after Pune – also known as the “Queen of Deccan”.
• It is among the rare Indian trains that have never been hauled using steam traction and were always electric-powered; on rare instances running on diesel.
• The GIPR in the 1940s would run Race Special trains for Mumbai’s horse racing enthusiasts who would come to Pune on weekends and race days.
• This train holds many a record, including that of being India’s first superfast train, first long-distance electric-hauled train, first vestibuled train, the first train to have a ‘women-only’ car, and the first train to feature a dining car.

Back2Basics: Railways in India

• Indian Railways started its service 164 years ago on 16 April 1853.
• The first railway proposals for India were made in Madras in 1832.
• The first train was run over a stretch of 33 kilometres from Mumbai to Thane and was hauled by three steam locomotives named Sahib, Sindh and Sultan.
• Indian Railway now has the 4th largest rail network in the world after the United States of America, China and Russia.

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